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How can you help?

Donate:

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross is in contact with the Japanese Red Cross to see how it can help. Meanwhile, donations that will support American disaster relief efforts in Japan and throughout the Pacific can be made at redcross.org to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami. A $10 donation also may be made by texting REDCROSS on your cell phone to 90999.

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army has opened a section of their Tokyo headquarters to provide shelter and meals for those who could not get home. A Salvation Army team in Tokyo is sending an assessment team to Sendai Friday night to assess damage and soon will begin providing basic necessities. Donations can be made by calling (800) SAL-ARMY; online at salvationarmy.usawest.org; or by post to The Salvation Army World Service Office, International Relief Fund, P.o. Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263--728. Please make a note that your gift go to Japan Earthquake/Tsunamis. A $10 donation also may be made by texting the words Japan or Quake to 80888.

UNICEF

UNICEF is monitoring the situation in Japan. The relief agency has staff and emergency supplies already posted throughout the region to assist vulnerable children and families if needed. To donate through UNICEF.

The San Diego Foundation

The San Diego Foundation has created a Global Disaster Relief Fund to provide disaster support to Japan. The fund will help address the most pressing needs of victims. Checks made out to TSDF Global Disaster Relief Fund may be mailed to The San Diego Foundation Global Disaster Relief Fund, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, No. 200, San Diego, CA 92106. Write Japan on the check to ensure funds go to that effort. Donations can also be made on the foundation's website.

How to contact relatives/friends in Japan:

The U.S. State Department advises U.S. citizens, both in Japan and in the United States to contact the Department of State at JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by phone. For those in United States or Canada, call (888) 407-4747. For those outside those areas, call (202) 501-4444. For updates, State Department officials recommend the following websites: japan.usembassy.gov/ (U.S. Embassy in Japan) ; travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_5378.html (Consular Affairs Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Page); travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_5377.html (Travel Alert). The State Department has strongly urged Americans to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan through April 1.

Continuous coverage from Japan:

Cox Communications has opened TV Japan Feed to all customers so they may watch live continuous news coverage from Japan. The premium channel is available free now on Cox Channel 400.

The San Onofre nuclear power plant and a similar facility on the Central Coast should be scrutinized by federal experts in the wake of the earthquake-related damage to nuclear stations in Japan, Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday in a letter to the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Related

Both California plants are near fault lines, raising concerns about their readiness for a major temblor. Officials at Southern California Edison, which runs the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, have said they are ready for a quake and tsunami and the plant is safe.

"Southern California Edison welcomes the opportunity to work with the state’s two U.S. senators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," the company said in a statement. "SCE is in daily contact with the U.S. nuclear power industry and regulatory officials to assess developments in Japan and how they relate to U.S. nuclear plant operations. The company will apply the lessons learned from this week’s human tragedy in Japan."

The two Democrats and others want more assurances that the engineering is sound.

"Roughly 424,000 live within 50 miles of the Diablo Canyon and 7.4 million live within 50 miles of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station," the senators said. "Although many safety measures have been taken to address potential hazards associated with these facilities, we need to ensure that the risk is fully evaluated."

To read an indepth story about the issues at the San Onofre plant, and responses by company officials, click here.

The most recent research suggests that worst-case predictions made during the construction of the nuclear reactors 40 years ago didn't fully capture the risk posed by earthquakes and tsunamis. In 2008, the California Energy Commission concluded that San Onofre could face “larger and more frequent earthquakes” than the maximum 7.0 magnitude quake projected when the plant was designed.

Boxer and Feinstein raised 11 sets of questions for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They include:

-- What safety measures are in place to ensure continued power to California reactors in the event of an extended power failure?

-- We have been told that both Diablo Canyon and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are designed to withstand the maximum credible threat at both plants, which we understand to be much less than the 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan. What assumptions have you made about the ability of both plants to withstand an earthquake or tsunami? Given the disaster in Japan, what are our options to provide these plants with a greater margin for safety?

-- Have new faults been discovered near Diablo Canyon or San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station since those plants began operations? If so, how have the plants been modified to account for the increased risk of an earthquake? How will the NRC consider information on ways to address risks posed by faults near these plants that is produced pursuant to state law or recommendations by state agencies during the NRC relicensing process?

The senators also asked questions about the developing dangers in Japan and their effect on U.S. residents. "What contingency plans are in place to ensure that the American public is notified in the event that hazardous materials associated with the events in Japan pose an imminent threat to the U.S.?" they asked.